The Challenge
by Kristen3
Summary: Victoria Chase's rival, Susan Lucci, has nominated her for the ALS Ice Bucket challenge. Will she accept?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **I'm sure by now everyone's familiar with the ice bucket challenge. Since tons of celebrities have done it, I couldn't resist seeing what would happen if Victoria got challenged. This obviously isn't a one-shot, so there's more coming, hopefully soon!

Victoria clicked on the YouTube link, not knowing what to expect. She had a Google alert set for Susan Lucci. It was important to know what her rival was doing. No way would she ever let a non-Oscar nominated wannabe soap queen steal her spotlight. So when she received an email letting her know that Susan had uploaded a new video, she was definitely intrigued. The video's title, "Susan Lucci Ice Bucket Challenge" seemed odd. She hit play. There stood the former _All My Children_ star. A bucket sat on the ground in front of her. "Well, I've been challenged to to do this, so here goes nothing!" To Victoria's shock, Susan then poured the contents of the bucket over her head. It was water, and by the looks of it, _cold_ water. Why on earth would anyone publicly do this, much less put it on YouTube? But before Victoria could wonder any more, Susan spoke again. "OK, now it's my turn to nominate someone else to take this challenge." Susan then named a few of her former soap opera co-stars. "Oh, yeah, and I can't forget Victoria Chase. I know you have to be watching this video. So now you have 24 hours to either post a video of you doing what I just did, or make a donation to ALS research. Come on, Victoria. You know you want to!" Susan gave an evil stare into the camera. Victoria always knew that playing a villain for so many years wasn't really much of a stretch for her rival.

"Ugh. This is so lame. I know she's probably a little desperate for work now that _All My Children_ has ended, but to stoop to this?!" Victoria rolled her eyes as she closed the browser tab.

"Hey, Victoria..." Elka's sing-song voice was heard as she came in from the kitchen. Victoria looked up just in time to see that the 92-year-old was carrying a bucket.

"Elka, what are you doing with that?" Victoria put her hands up to defend herself.

"I just saw Susan's video. You have to do it. So I got you a bucket."

"How did you see that so fast? She only posted it an hour ago."

"Are you kidding me?" Elka asked. "It's blowing up on Twitter. "Hashtag #VictoriaIceBucket is trending!"

"What?" Victoria frantically typed on her laptop. Twitter loaded in seconds. Sure enough, she'd been flooded with mentions. Fans were tweeting her the link to the video and urging her to accept the challenge. "This is ridiculous. I'm not going to take orders from Susan after all she's done to me!"

"What's Susan done now?" Joy asked, coming in the front door.

"Oh, she's posted a stupid video on YouTube where she dumped a bucket of water on her head. She challenged me to do the same thing. Elka thinks I should do it." Once again, she rolled her eyes.

"Oh, the ALS ice bucket challenge? If you've been challenged, you've got 24 hours to do it!" Joy sat down next to Victoria on the couch.

"You too? Come on, what purpose can this possibly serve?" Victoria asked.

"Well, it's for charity," Joy replied. "This challenge has raised over four million dollars so far for ALS research."

"Just what is this ALS thing? 'Cause if it has to do with feeding those poor hungry kids on TV, I don't want to get involved. Let them go to McDonald's like the rest of us."

"No, Victoria, it's not like that. ALS is Lou Gehrig's disease."

"Who is this Lou Gehrig? He can't be a celebrity, 'cause I've never heard of him."

Elka rolled her eyes. Didn't they know _anything _about sports in LA? "He's dead. He was a baseball player in the 1930's."

"Yes, Elka was there when he first joined the Yankees," Joy said, giving her roommate a glare. She'd never miss a chance to point out Elka's age.

"OK, so if he was big in the '30's, why is he just getting a disease named after him now?" Victoria asked.

"The disease has been around for a long time," Joy explained with an exasperated sigh. "It's just been named after him because he was the first person to die from it. And they still haven't found a cure. This ice bucket thing is a way to raise money. I'm surprised you haven't heard about it before now. It's been going around the Internet for weeks!"

"Yeah, well, you know I only pay attention to stuff that involves me!"

Joy sighed. She knew that all too well. "Well, if you just ignore this, Susan's never going to let you forget it."

"That's true. She's got a memory like an elephant. But this is so silly. I mean, do I really want a video like this of me out there? What will the Oscar voters think?"

"Victoria, a lot of celebrities are doing it. It's really no big deal. People obviously want you to do it."

"Well, that is true," Victoria said, as she watched her Twitter feed continue to explode. "Maybe I could use this silly ice-bucket thing to my advantage."

Joy knew her friend well enough to know when she was forming one of her outrageous plans. "What are you going to do?" she asked, feeling a bit nervous.

"If people want to see me do it, then they should get to _see_ me do it. In person!"

"You want to invite your fans to come here? Is that really a good idea?" Joy couldn't believe even Victoria could have come up with a plan this insane.

Elka, meanwhile shrugged. "Come on, what's the worst that could happen? Five people will show up?"

"Elka! You know I have way more fans than that!"

"Yes, dear, but I believe a lot of them are serving prison sentences. There's no way they're getting out!"

"No way," Joy said. "I don't want my home to be overrun with weird _Edge of Tomorrow_ fanatics. I'm sure if Melanie were here, she'd say the same."

"Say the same about what?" Melanie asked, entering right on cue.

"Victoria's been nominated by Susan Lucci to do the ice bucket challenge. She wants to do it here, in front of her fans."

"What?" Melanie asked. "You're going to let a bunch of strangers come over to our house?"

"Guys, I never said I wanted to do it here. I have another place in mind: Stormi's."

Both Joy and Melanie breathed sighs of relief, knowing that at least their home would be safe from Victoria Chase fans. But still, the question remained, was Victoria actually going to go through with this?


	2. Chapter 2

True to her word, Victoria showed up at Stormi's the next afternoon. She'd tweeted her plan, and urged any fans in the Cleveland area to come watch the event. It had been retweeted countless times. As usual, Victoria enjoyed all the attention. "Look at this crowd, all gathered here for me!"

"I'd say the booze might have something to do with it," Elka replied with a shrug.

"Mark my words, my video is going to raise a _ton_ of money for this ALS thing." Then, she whispered to Melanie, "It's a disease, right?"

"Yes," Melanie said, exasperated. In her arms was a bucket. "Let me go in the back and get this thing filled." She walked off.

Joy looked out at the crowd. Many of them were beginning to realize Victoria was there, and they began to approach, asking for autographs. "Are you sure you're really going to do this?"

"Of course, Joy. My fans have demanded it, and I'm not about to let them down!"

This brought a cheer from the crowd. "Victoria, Victoria!"

"And people wonder how _Edge of Tomorrow_ stayed on the air for twenty-eight seasons!" Victoria began waving to the audience.

Joy was definitely not liking being surrounded by so many of Victoria's adoring fans. It was why, despite working on countless celebrities back in LA, Joy had never even considered being an actress herself. She prayed Victoria would simply let Melanie throw a bucket of water over her, and then leave. The sooner this was over, the better.

"OK, I've got the bucket ready!" Melanie shouted, returning from inside the back room of the bar.

"Elka, do you have the camera ready?" Victoria asked. She'd wanted to get someone from the station to film this, but everyone was busy. However, Elka had promised to film the event and upload it to Victoria's YouTube channel ASAP.

"Yup. We're rolling," Elka replied. She held up her cellphone. Charity or not, Elka couldn't wait to capture an embarrassing video of Victoria. She'd make sure the link went viral.

Melanie walked over to where her friend stood, still carrying the bucket.

"Melanie, there's _ice_ in that bucket. Isn't the water going to be a bit cold?" Victoria asked.

"Victoria, that's the point!" Melanie exclaimed. "It's the Ice Bucket challenge. You can't back out now. Susan Lucci would never let you live it down!"

"You're right, Melanie. Victoria Chase never backs down from a challenge. After all, I once flew straight into a tornado when I filmed the Lifetime Original Movie, _Lady Storm Chaser_. If Mother Nature can't scare me, neither can a bucket of freezing cold water!"

That once again brought cheers from the crowd.

"OK, Melanie, do it!" Victoria said the words before she could lose her nerve. Melanie complied, and Victoria soon found herself soaking wet and freezing. "There you go, Susan! You thought I wouldn't do this, but I did!" Victoria yelled to the camera. "Now I nominate..." But Victoria stopped mid-sentence. "Oh, God, I'm freezing. Forget it, I need to go dry off!"

Before anyone knew what was happening, Victoria walked off toward the bar. "Somebody get me a towel!"

"Here," a handsome man said, handing Victoria a towel from behind the bar.

"Thanks," Victoria said. "I know this looks a little silly, but you see, Susan Lucci and I have had this feud going for years..."

The man smiled. "I know. I saw on Facebook that you were going to do this. I have to admit, I thought there was no way a pampered soap star like you would actually go through with it. But you did. That took guts."

"Oh, well, thank you. I do love to give back whenever I can." Victoria smiled. It was true. Not too long ago, she'd given a kidney to a sick little girl. The press had eaten the story up. The publicity had done wonders for her career.

"Well, that's very admirable," the man said. "Since you did something so gutsy, I think I should do something bold myself. Victoria, would you like to go out sometime?"

Though she was used to men flirting with her, especially here in Cleveland, Victoria was stunned by the question. She'd never expected a man to approach her now, when she was wet and cold. But then she suddenly thought of how Melanie often said that kindness was always rewarded somehow. Perhaps this man was payback for helping others. "Yes," she said. "I'd be glad to."

**The End**


End file.
